Easy Street looking to the future

December 19, 2013

It started in November 2013 with "Annie," the show where Easy Street cofounders Todd Hancock and Maureen Collins met and the musical that gave the theater company its name. And it continued last spring with "Pump Boys and Dinettes," which ran for 200 performances between 1989 and 1991.

So what's next for Easy Street Productions? Hancock said they might have another anniversary to celebrate.

It will be 20 years in 2014 since the Easy Street first staged the Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice musical "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" at Powers Auditorium, and 30 years since Hancock and Collins first appeared in the show together at Youngstown Playhouse.

If they can get the rights - a national tour featuring former "American Idol" contestants Diana DeGarmo and Ace Young comes to Cleveland in March and still will be on the road - Easy Street would like to do the show in the spring at a venue to be determined.

"That's one of the shows a lot of people associate with us," he said.

Hancock said he's also looking at some newer shows, but availability as well as royalty and production costs will determine Easy Street's next move.